| Wes Boyd's Spearfish Lake Tales Contemporary Mainstream Books and Serials Online |
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| Wes Boyd's Spearfish Lake Tales Contemporary Mainstream Books and Serials Online |
Chapter 21
The trip turned out to be a pretty good one, which did a good job of washing away the memories of the Bitch from Hell. The team was in a pretty good mood when they pulled into Diamond Creek, and Michelle coming to greet him again put Duane into an even better mood.
This time they were the only team in the shop for the turnaround, so they only had to blow up part of Saturday loading. He and Michelle mostly took the day off, goofing off around the house in Grand Canyon Village and spending that kind of quality time together. Along in the middle the afternoon while they were taking a breather, out of nowhere Michelle asked, “Duane, have you given any thought to what we’re going to name the baby?”
“Nope, not a minute’s worth,” he replied honestly, his mind really on something else.
“Well, think about it,” she told him. “What I keep thinking is that I’d like him or her to have a name that’s somehow associated with the river.”
“Well, if it’s a boy, there’s ‘John Wesley,’ after Powell,” he pointed out, reaching for ideas.
“I thought about that already, and I don’t like it. There’s too much religious connotation. I want something a little more unique.”
“Have you had any ideas?”
“I think I have a good one for a boy, anyway.”
“What is it?”
“You’re going to laugh at me,” she giggled.
“No, I’m not,” he said, rolling on his side and resting his hand on her bare belly. “I’d like a good name, too.”
“All right,” she said. “What would you think of ‘Hance?’”
That was a Canyon name, all right. Hance Rapids, which kicked off Upper Granite Gorge, was one of the biggest rapids in the Canyon, and as far as he was concerned, the most intimidating. While Duane was no super expert on the history of the Grand Canyon, he knew that John Hance had been the first permanent settler on the South Rim, and had opened a small hotel for tourists. He had taken them down to Hance Rapids on a trail he made mule-passable, one that hikers still used.
Duane tested the word, tried the feel of it, the weight of it, and frankly liked the sound. If their child was to bear a Canyon-related name, it was definitely a possibility. It would be unusual, but in this day of giving kids unusual names, not out of line. “I’d say that was a definite possibility, unless we can come up with something better,” he told her. “How about a girl?”
“That’s tougher,” she replied. “I mean, ‘Crystal’ would work real well, but that name is sort of taken.”
“No fooling,” he replied. It was common knowledge around Canyon Tours that Karin had named Crystal for that rapids. “In fact, that’s the one difficulty with naming a boy Hance, if he was to become a boatman. Crystal says that her name makes it hard to swear at the thing.”
“Tough shit,” she grinned. “I think I like Hance too. A girl is tougher if you leave out Crystal. I mean, there are the rest of the Jewel rapids, Agate, Turquoise, Ruby, and the others, but somehow none of them do it for me.”
“Well, yeah, me either,” he admitted. “There’s Doris, but I draw the line on this side of it.”
“I thought of ‘Paria,’” she said. “It would be a pretty name but it would mean something bad in English.”
“Yeah, that’s out, too.” He thought for a minute and suggested, “How about some kind of bird or plant or something associated with the Canyon? It doesn’t absolutely have to be river related.”
“Like maybe?”
“I’ll tell you one that might be a little odd but has a nice ring to it,” he smiled. “Tamarisk.”
“I don’t know,” she replied thoughtfully. “The tamarisk trees are invaders in the Canyon; there’s talk of trying to eliminate them but it’s not going to happen.”
“True,” he said. “But think of how nice it is to get off the river after a tough day and sit in the shade of one. I kind of like them myself, and you have to admit that sometimes they’re damn nice to be around. Besides, we’d probably call her ‘Tammy’, anyway.”
“Let’s consider it a possibility,” she said. “But keep thinking.”
“Let’s not think about it now,” he suggested. “I can think about it all I want out on the river. Maybe I’ll throw the question out to the crew and see if they can come up with anything. I can think of other things to do right now.”
As always the break was too short.
Once again they were up early, this time on Monday morning, and met the crew at the Canyon Tours shop before the sun came up. Possibly because it was Monday nobody had a hangover, although Duane got the impression that hadn’t been the case on Sunday morning.
The rigging went well, and they were done in plenty of time for the customers to arrive. Once again, Duane let Barbie do the introductions and orientations, but this time she surprised him. Like she had done the last couple trips, she explained the deal about him being the real trip leader and that she was in training for the position.
All that was fine, but then added, “The real reason that I’m the trip leader is that way we can be pretty sure we’re going to get off the river when we’re scheduled. If we let Duane lead it, there’s no telling how long it would be. See, he’s getting married two days after we get off the river this trip, and you know the stories about the reluctant bridegroom. If we don’t watch out, we could be on this run eighteen months, not eighteen days.”
“Hey!” Duane protested loudly to Barbie for the benefit of the customers, “I was the one who suggested getting married, you know!”
“I know that,” she shot back. “They say women change their minds, but we ain’t nothing compared to a guy facing a ball and chain!”
“So let me tell you,” Duane related almost three weeks later. “I got ragged about it the whole darn trip. I mean, every time I turned around someone was firing off some corny wedding or newlywed joke, and the crew wasn’t a bit better about it than the customers. There had to be stuff told that was old when Joe Miller was young.”
He and Michelle were seated in a nice dinner restaurant in Flagstaff with Preach and Crystal, who had just gotten in from Diamond Creek a couple of hours before. Crystal and Preach had taken the time to swing by the Girls’ House, take a shower, and change into clean clothes, and looked remarkably perky for it being the end of a long day that had started at Granite Springs.
“You haven’t thought it through,” Crystal pointed out. “You know darn well that Barbie is going to say something when you’re putting in tomorrow, so get ready for two weeks of even worse jokes and teasing.”
“Yeah, there is that,” Duane sighed. “I kicked around the idea of getting with Al and having him come up with some pickup boatman, or maybe your mother, so Barbie could just be the trip leader for the next two weeks while Michelle and I went somewhere. But I decided that the money for taking the trip counted for something too, especially when the doctor and hospital bills start rolling in.”
“You think Barbie is ready?” Crystal asked.
“Pretty near,” Duane said, a little reluctant to talk seriously about business at this dinner. Jokes and stories were one thing, but this was different. “She could do it now if she had to, but it won’t hurt for her to have a few more trips more or less in charge under her belt. Either way, it’s probably too late to do anything about it now.”
“Well, that’s good,” Crystal replied, obviously not wanting to go much into the subject right now herself. “But I suppose the two of you have been together so long that it’s not like a major disaster that you have to hit the river a few hours after you get married.”
“It shows that we’re river rats, that’s for sure,” Michelle said. “We knew this was going to happen when we set it up this way, after all. So have the two of you come to a decision on your big vacation trip?”
“Not yet,” Crystal sighed. “We’ve pretty well narrowed it down to the sea-kayaking-around-Tasmania thing, but the closer we come to it the more reluctant we get.”
“It is a pretty big expedition,” Duane said. “And I hear the water is pretty rough, especially on the west coast of the island.”
“That’s what we hear,” Preach said. “The ocean is supposed to be pretty wild there. There’s nothing to break the waves after they roll in clear from Africa somewhere, with Southern Ocean gales pushing them every inch of the way. There are not a lot of places on that coast to land if things get too rough. Crystal and I are pretty good in sea kayaks, but it’s been a while.”
“Oh, I think we can handle it if we’re careful,” Crystal said. “We’d just have to take our time and be on the watch for nasty conditions, but time is one thing we’d have plenty of. It really comes down to an issue of money.”
“It would be a trip to remember,” Preach agreed. “And Crystal is right; we probably could get away with it. But it is very expensive, and while we have enough to afford the trip, we keep thinking that there are better places we could put the money, like a house here in Flagstaff, for example. What we’d be spending on that for a vacation would make a sizeable down payment.”
“It’s a tough one,” Crystal conceded. “I mean, living in the Girls’ House is all right when we’re only there for two or three days every three weeks, but even if we lead as many Canyon trips next year as we’re taking out this year, it’s going to get a little cramped. And there’s almost no chance that I’m going to be able to get in on as many next year as I am this year.”
“To top it off,” Preach added. “If we wind up not going to Tasmania this winter, it’s going to be very cramped to live there. I mean, we’ll still be going out to do shows and things, but we’d still be here a lot. And worse, it’s not really our house; it’s just a place to camp out for a short period. So a house for us is starting to look pretty appealing.”
“Yeah,” Crystal agreed. “I’m even beginning to think myself that a house of our own looks pretty darn good. But the example Randy set is still good: you have to do this stuff while you can, because if you lose the chance it may never come back. It never will for him, except for short trips and most likely in the winter, so I guess it’s just as well that he likes skiing. But for us, maybe this is the last chance, or maybe we’ve already lost the chance. That’s what we’ve been trying to work out for months.”
“We’re not any closer to a decision than we’ve ever been,” Preach added. “And it’s getting to the point where we have to make a decision pretty soon. Even if we decided that we were going to do it, it’s not something we can make any arrangements for this weekend. But we pretty well are going to have to have our minds made up by the time we get off the river this next trip or it’s going to become a moot point anyway. It takes a while to get things set up.”
“Tough choice,” Duane said. “And I know just exactly where you’re at. I’m glad I got to do the Iditarod last winter, because there wouldn’t be any chance of being able to do it this year, and maybe never again. It’s too early to say. But I have to point out that even if you two go ahead and decide to get a house, you’re still going to have some time in the winter to be able to do a trip, just one a little shorter and less expensive. Maybe not Tasmania, but Costa Rica with Scooter and the gang might still be a possibility. I know you’ve talked about it but never have done it. Michelle and I have kicked it around, but the last three winters we’ve been looking at dog butts, so we never got to go. No matter what, you’re never going to be able to do it all.”
“Yeah, I know,” Crystal sighed. “But again, I have to look back at Randy. I got to do the AT, do a couple ocean passages, and a trip down the Inside Passage, plus be a boatman for the last few years. He’d have liked to do all of that, and he’s never been able to do any of it and probably never will. The closest he ever got was last winter, when he and Nicole flew to Patagonia for two weeks of sea kayaking off a mother ship. That worked out pretty well for him, but it’s nothing compared to what he would have liked to do.”
“At least you got to do some big trips,” Duane pointed out.
“That’s just the point; he’s had squat. The heck of it is that every trip we’ve looked at is off the list of stuff that he’s considered and has never had the chance to do. In a way I’d sort of hoped we could do it for him, but maybe that’s not a very good idea. Don’t get me wrong, while I love Preach I still like Randy and owe him a lot. I don’t think it’s a very good idea to get him jealous at us for doing something else that he’d like to do that he’ll never be able to.”
“And that’s actually a point against doing the Tasmania trip,” Preach said. “Randy has always been very gracious about it, but you can see it hurts him. Actually, he had one idea that’s probably reasonable, which is surfing in South Africa. There’s supposed to be some great surf on the Atlantic side, what they call the Skeleton Coast. We let it slide early since it’s something that could be done in two or three weeks, and the thought is there that maybe some winter we could get them to go along with us. That might still be something that’s possible and make up a lot of hurt.”
“It’s still a good idea,” Crystal said. “And after this last trip it’s been sounding better and better. I really doubt that we could get them to go this winter since their kid will only be about eight months old. But when he gets to be two or three if they haven’t had another one, leaving Brent with one of their mothers and going might be a real possibility. Of course that leads into the kid question for us, too.”
“It sounds like a good trip,” Michelle agreed. “I wouldn’t mind going on that one myself, but we’re going to have the kid issue to deal with, too. Maybe more than one.”
“More than one?” Crystal asked.
“Well, we haven’t talked about it much,” Michelle said, “but we’ve pretty well agreed that if we’re going to have more than one we want to have them pretty close together. This winter is out for sure, but depending on a lot of things it’s at least a possibility for another year.”
“If we can afford it, too,” Duane pointed out. “We’re probably going to be confronting the house issue ourselves once tripping season is over with, and there may not be enough money left over for a big trip like that.”
“That’s something to consider, too,” Preach nodded. “Although the South Africa trip would be much cheaper than Tasmania because it’s shorter. Well, again, it’s nothing we can make our minds up about now, but it might be a factor.”
“Whatever happens, Tasmania or whatever,” Crystal said, “let’s at least leave the door open to do it in a year or two or three. I don’t even want to bring the idea up to Randy right now since he’s pretty sick of planning trips and having them blow up in his face.”
“No fooling,” Michelle said. “We’ve been in their hot tub and listened to him rant about that.”
“We have too,” Crystal agreed. “Maybe I can raise the idea with Nicole without it getting to him and see what she thinks. But whatever, I can tell you that it’s not going to happen this year.”
“You know,” Michelle shook her head. “What all this means is that we’re growing older, not that we liked it very much. Crystal, back when you and Scooter and I were running around all winter, we’d take off for months without anything in the way of plans other than a direction to head and have a lot of fun. Now, it seems like it’s getting almost impossible.”
“That’s the way life works,” Preach replied thoughtfully. “We can be wild and free when we’re young, but as we grow older we all accept responsibilities that limit our freedom. Those include things like careers, families, and financial commitments. For most people they come almost automatically, but all of us Canyon Tours trip leader couples have managed to stay free a lot longer than most. That means that it’s harder to accept those limitations.”
“You accepted a lot of those responsibilities early on,” Duane replied, sensing the sudden change in the tone of the conversation.
“Well, I thought I did, but really, I didn’t,” Preach said. “In some ways, I may not have used that time of freedom as wisely as the rest of you when I accepted the youth pastor position at Glen Hill Road. All of you used it for fun and adventure, which is not a bad thing. I still had a lot of that freedom, with no family commitments and very few financial commitments. But I thought I had a commitment to a career, and I let it overwhelm the chance to do some other things I would like to have done. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed what I was doing very much and thought it was what the Lord wanted me to be doing, so I was very satisfied with it. But when I realized it was not what I was supposed to be doing, at least I had the freedom to go ahead and do something else. It was nice to have that freedom, but I know it won’t last, especially if Crystal and I buy a house and get started with a family.”
“It’s growing up,” Crystal sighed. “We’ve all managed to put it off for a while, but here it comes, and maybe it’s time to quit trying to avoid it.”
“I think it safe to say that we’ve come to understand it even more thoroughly than you have, or at least we’re further down that road,” Duane replied after a moment’s silence. “I guess we don’t have to like it, but there it is, and we have to accept it.”
“At least you are accepting it,” Preach said. “In my time as a youth pastor, I saw kids who all of a sudden were in a position where they had to take some responsibility for themselves, and they weren’t capable of doing it. They thought they could deal with those responsibilities and still enjoy their freedom. As Crystal so pithily puts it, sooner or later reality bit most of them in the butt. That can be very hard to accept, and some couldn’t manage it at all. I’ve seen more lives ruined that way than I want to think about. One is too many, and I’ve seen more than one.”
Preach looked at his watch. “Look at the time,” he said. “I think we’d better be wrapping this up. I think Crystal and I need to get some sleep, since we need to be up early in the morning. You do, too.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Michelle agreed. “It’s going to be a big day tomorrow, and it’s going to be starting pretty early. We probably ought to be hitting the road ourselves. It’s a long haul out there and we’re going to need our sleep too.”
“I’m glad we had this time to sit down and talk,” Duane said. “We haven’t had time to do that very much this season.”
“No, and it’s going to be a while before we can do it again,” Preach agreed. “If I remember the schedule correctly, it’s going to be in the first week of October. We’ll be in town for about four days before you have to make the last trip of the season. It would be nice if we could get together for dinner or something during that period.”
“That’d be fun,” Michelle agreed. “I’ll be seeing you before then, though. Maybe we can do something.”
“Yes, but there may be some reason you want to talk to me,” Preach grinned. “In a way, I hope not.”
“Why’s that?” Duane asked.
“As you know, I don’t do very many weddings,” Preach smiled. “But I like to when I can, and I feel it’s important that a pastor has a chance to counsel those whom he’s marrying. The way the schedule has worked this season there just hasn’t been any chance to talk to the both of you together. At least I’ve been able to talk with you some, Michelle, and that session that we had the last time the four of us could get together helped to focus my thoughts a little.”
“It did ours, too,” Duane said. “Your thoughtful advice is always welcome.”
“I’m glad you appreciate it,” Preach grinned. “This dinner and the last one were about the only time I’ve had to do at least an informal counseling session with you, but I hope that I’ve been able to give you some food for thought.”
“I think you’ve managed to do that, Preach,” Michelle smiled. “That time we had to talk back when I first found out I was pregnant straightened out my thinking on a lot of things, and I really appreciate it.”
“Believe it or not, it’s my honest belief that I’m working for Canyon Tours in the Grand Canyon because it’s what the Lord wants me to be doing, so I have the opportunity do things like that,” Preach said. “I know neither of you are very religious, and I can comprehend that. I can hope that you will change, but it’s not my way to push you until I think you’re ready to be pushed. That time may come, and it may not. It’s the Lord’s will, not mine. But along the way, perhaps I can be of help to a troubled soul from time to time. As I said, that’s what I’m here for, so I’m glad I could be of assistance. And now, we all really need to go, or we’re going to be yawning way too much in the morning.”
They got up from the table to leave; Duane had long since paid the bill. They headed on out the door to where the cars were parked, and Michelle said, “Hey, it’s been great. See you in the morning.”
“We’ll see you in the morning, too,” Preach smirked. “And at least I hope we’ll see Duane in the morning, too.”
A little over a day before, Duane had gotten a real shock when he and Barbie brought the trip up to the landing at Diamond Creek – Jason and Vicky were there along with Michelle to greet him. It turned out that Pat had done a little bit of string-pulling with Al to let them have at least a little bit of a taste of what Duane’s life was like.
It turned out that Jason and Vicky had flown into Phoenix earlier in the week and had been staying with Pat and Rachel Rawson up in Grand Canyon Village. In spite of their busy schedules, Pat, Rachel, and Michelle had taken turns taking them around to some of the various sights. Duane and Michelle had spent much of that day with his folks, but had broken off with the intent of having the quiet dinner with Crystal and Preach. It may have not been the most hospitable thing to do, but time was tight on this turnaround, and they had little to waste, so things like that had to be done.
But now that the dinner was over with, it was time to be getting back out to Grand Canyon Village and to let Preach and Crystal do the other things that had to be done on a break that was all too short for them too. “I’m glad we took the time to do that,” Duane said as he drove the Mustang out of Flagstaff.
“I’m glad we did, too,” Michelle agreed. “I wish we hadn’t had to jam everything together the way we did, but it seems to be going pretty well. It would have been nice to take a week or so for a traditional honeymoon, but where would we go? The Grand Canyon?”
“Well, true,” Duane shrugged. “After all, we’ve sort of had a honeymoon for the last two and a half years. Maybe now it’s time to start thinking about really being married.”
“I’ve been looking forward to it,” she smiled. “And not just since I found out I was pregnant. You know, Duane, before we started living together I was pretty independent, so it surprises me at just how co-dependent with each other we’ve gotten.”
“Me, too,” he agreed. “It’s really going to suck to have to go right from the wedding to the river, but I guess we have to take what we can get and like it. We’re just going to have to get through the rest of the season somehow, then maybe we’ll have the time to sit down and figure out what comes next.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, a little deflated. “I guess things aren’t going to be the way they used to be.”
When they got back to Grand Canyon Village they found Duane’s parents and Michelle’s parents together in their living room having a great old time, which involved a bottle of single-malt Scotch. Both their fathers could tell a story and had them to tell; it was obvious that everyone was enjoying themselves and well on the way to becoming fast friends.
What with having to get up the next morning at what amounted to river time, everyone kept the evening short; soon people were heading off to bed. “You know,” Duane said as he and Michelle cuddled together after they got under the covers, “it seems just a little strange to think that tomorrow is our wedding day, and that we’re not going to be together tomorrow night.”
“That was how things worked out with this schedule,” she agreed. “It seems a little strange to me too, but I guess that’s how it’s going to be. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t spent the night together a lot before. It’s not like we’re both nervous virgins worrying about what it’s going to be like.”
“Yeah, true, but still,” he sighed.
“We’ve got a little time before we have to get to sleep,” she giggled in the semi-darkness of the room. “There’s no reason we can’t have a little bit of our wedding night tonight.”
